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Future TrucksFord acknowledges that most sport/ utility owners spend little of their actual drive time off-road (anthills in the mall parking lot don’t count!). But that doesn’t mean buyers who use these rigs in urban or suburban environments don’t enjoy some cargo room and the “I’m too cool for a station wagon” image that comes with SUV ownership. We have no reason to expect Ford‘s all-new ’02 Explorer won’t continue to impress these buyers either, with its smoother-riding independent rear suspension, new all-wheel-drive and stability control systems, more powerful engines, and beefier look. So Ford put together a special concept version of the Explorer that features city-style sport-sedanlike cues inside and out.

The exterior is dressed up with five-spoke 20-in. alloy wheels and performance rubber housed inside flared wheelarches. Ford’s design group also lowered the ride height and added what they call “low-emphasis” side cladding. The equally low-profile front fascia received uniquely styled driving lights and functional brake-cooling ducts. Check out the rumbling dual exhaust system with bright-polished exhaust tips and the roof spoiler added on the trailing edge of the liftgate that replaces the traditional roof rack.

Inside, this GT-ified Explorer gets an edgy, techno look via quad bucket seats, full front-to-rear center console, thick-rimmed steering wheel, and unique sports instrumentation. Driving home the urban theme is a black and lime green interior with iridescent piping. Don’t expect to see this combination factory-available any time soon, but it is eye-catching for a show toy.

Power for exploring the urban landscape comes from a 240-hp version of Ford’s 4.6L SOHC V-8, breathing through a “cold-air” cowl-induction system. Is the Urban Explorer a hint at a future production model? Probably not: The point of the exercise is to help call attention to the new-generation Explorer and give owners an idea of what sort of street-flavored personalization is possible with Ford’s best-selling sport/utility.

Cargo (Std/Max)

Seating

2002 Ford Explorer News and Reviews

It's our guess you could've heard a pin drop the day the Ford Explorer development team sat around some conference table deep within the darkest hallways of Dearborn. There was probably some guy in a dark suit with a serious brow and the weight of the world on his shoulders posing a weighty question to the group assembled before him.…

Once in a while, the planets align, clouds part, and a segment leader is born. That happened to Ford when it introduced the '91 Explorer in March 1990. Since then, it's been the best-selling sport/utility--a near perfect marriage of trucklike durability and station wagon-like cargo capacity.Now in its third generation, the Explorer is all-new with a 4.6-liter modular V-8, independent…

In March 1990, Ford's Explorer debuted (as a '91 model) and has been the best-selling sport/utility vehicle ever since. The Explorer successfully married the trucklike durability of an SUV with four-door family-style comfort, popularizing a segment in which nearly every manufacturer competes today. A decade and over 3.6 million vehicles later, the Explorer remains a strong-selling family hauler despite negative…

Basically, he set us up. Yes, our Editor-in-Chief, C. Van Tune, had us believing it would be fun. His plan was grandiose, yet strangely appealing. Fifteen of us would make this year's torture trek to Death Valley behind the wheels of the latest trucks and SUVs. We'd travel from below sea level to above 8000 feet in elevation, explore some…

It's not often two head-to-head competitors are completely redesigned from the ground up in the same model year. Usually, adversaries' products are separated by at least a year, so carmakers can wait and see the other guy's hand before showing their own cards (or to avoid comparisons like this one). But here, both manufacturers, and to some degree the marketplace…